Vettel dominates to take pole in Hungary

Sebastian Vettel took pole position, well ahead of his team-mate Mark Webber, while Fernando Alonso was 3rd. Lewis Hamilton was 5th, while Jenson Button was 11th. Here is the full report:

Q1

With the short nature of the track, several drivers were being warned of traffic impeding them on their runs, which may be why so many drivers went out early on. The fastest lap was set by Vitaly Petrov two times in a row within 5 minutes, before being beaten by team-mate Kubica.

After this, the Red Bulls went out, and instantly broke into the 1.21 barrier, with Sebastian Vettel setting a 1.21.360. Mark Webber went 2 tenths faster, while Michael Schumacher is very close to the dropout zone in 15th, while Jaime Alguersuari was 18th.

Within a few minutes, Jenson Button, Alguersuari and Michael Schumacher all fall below 17th, before setting another time to get out, leaving Kamui Kobayahshi out of Q1. The Virgin of Timo Glock was the fastest of the new teams today.

Drivers knocked out in Q1:

18) Kamui Kobayashi

19) Timo Glock

20) Heikki Kovalainen

21) Jarno Trulli

22) Lucas di Grassi

23) Bruno Senna

24) Sakon Yamamoto

Q2

Within a few minutes, the Red Bulls blasted their way into 1st and 2nd, leaving the others to fight it out. Most others were on the harder tyre, but Jenson Button switched to the soft tyre to try and get through to Q2. He only got to 9th after 2 attempts though.

Felipe Massa, in 7th, went out on a run on the super-softs to try and ensure he got through, a strategy used by Jaime Alguersuari. Alguersuari, however, only got 16th, and was knocked back to 17th by Sebastien Buemi. Nico Hulkenberg was 11th, and trying to improve, but made a mistake at Turn 11 and ruined his chance.

Mark Webber beat Vettel (who decided not to go out again) with a 1.19.5. Meanwhile, the main battle was to stay in the top 10, as Jenson Button was knocked into 11th by Hulkenberg and De la Rosa. He went out again, but failed to improve, leaving him out of Q2. Alongside him were both Force Indias and Toro Rossos, Barrichello and Michael Schumacher.

Drivers knocked out in Q2:

11 Jenson Button

12) Rubens Barrichello

13) Adrian Sutil

14) Michael Schumacher

15) Sebastien Buemi

16) Vitantonio Liuzzi

17) Jaime Alguersuari

Q3

Fernando Alonso was first out, and set a a.19.9, the fastest lap for a Ferrari this weekend. He was followed by Massa and Hulkenberg, while Nico Rosberg went 3rd. Lewis Hamilton was half a second slower than Alonso, while Webber’s tyres were slightly cold, despite this he set a 1.19.184.

Then, Sebastian Vettel smashed that time with a 1.18.7, surely the fastest lap of the weekend. That time was 1.2 seconds faster than Alonso in 3rd. While everyone pitted before their final runs, Pedro de la Rosa went 7th, but Vitaly Petrov made a mistake on his first run, but he still went 8th.

Mark Webber failed on his final run, leaving Vettel free to take pole. Alonso was 3rd ahead of Massa, while Hamilton was invisible in 5th. Nico Rosberg was 6th, while Vitaly Petrov beat Robert Kubica for the first ever time. Pedro de la Rosa was 9th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.